Entry Level 1911

This is a discussion on Entry Level 1911 within the Defensive Carry Guns forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; I certainly can't complain about my RIA 1911. Bought it several years ago and it's been a great gun....

A lot of people tend to agree that Kimber is not what it used to be. But then again, the same has been said for SA.

The fact of the matter is that the 1911 VARIANTS of today are not the work of John Browning. He invented it to be a reliable sidearm and it was. Now people want greater accuracy, which means tighter tolerances, which means less reliability.

I am as pro 1911 as I could be. It is without a doubt one of the most amazing inventions of all time. However, buying a 1911 is a roll of the dice, regardless of brand.

You should not have to spend over $1k to get a handgun that will function MOST of the time.

With that said, I would probably go with a Springfield Loaded of your choice.

RIA Tactical report

Traded 2 year old RIA GI for Tactical version yesterday. Old one shot fine but couldn't see sights(old eyes) and trigger a little heavy. Was gonna upgrade sights and trigger til I found the Tactical version. $200 and my old gun bought me a lot more than that. Good sights, ambi-safety, crisp 5lb trigger, etc. Drank too much coffee this am(good as excuse as any) so wasn't shooting so hot but ran 200 rds 230gr Blazer, 25 rds 230 gr GS, &25 rds 230 wwb jhp thru it with nary a bobble. When I really concentrated, it put em to POA but either WWB shot a little low or I was getting tired(shot it last).It put 8/8 on paper plate at 25 yds and that's as good as I can do offhand. I've had 3 Colts including 1960s Gold Cup and all required breakin. This one doesn't seem to need much breakin. Shoots as well as my Colt Combat Commander and it's one of the most accurate pistols I own. Added some slimmer grips from my grip box and rubber finger grooves & dab of white paint to front sight after cleaning, lubing, polishing ramp, throat, & chamber before shooting. Gonna find some better grips and haven't decided on finger grooves yet. So, for now, seems like a lot of gun for $. Dealer had it priced at $480.

Don't have any experience with Norincos or RIA's. Cannot recommend a Taurus as my buddy has had one problem after another with it and have seen a few Kimbers make their owners very unhappy campers at IPSC matches (no offense Kimber folks but I speak the truth).

I can recommend Springfield Armory without hesitation. Have this my first 1990 SA Milspec 1911 that I added a few mods to. Didn't cost me a bundle and this baby eats any ammo like a hungry pig and is darn accurate to boot. Can say the same of my 1994 SA Champ. Has kept my family and I well protected and know that it will do so in the future. Happy hunting!

Getting into something like that Wesson Bobtail right off the bat would save most folks many hundreds of dollars in the long run.
example: Buy a $400 "entry import" and run it until you decide you need better sights, beavertail, whatever. Trade it off for the same brand with upgrades + $200. Read enough reports (true or not) about the poor casting quality or workmanship and decide it's time to move up. Trade it + 400 for a Loaded. Happy with that for a while, and it's good enough to last a lifetime, but by now you've got that "bug" to do a little customizing to your tastes instead of someone else's. Send it off for a trigger/accuracy/checkering/new sights job, oh, and while it's there, just as well refinish it, all for around $600.

You now own a slightly customized Loaded, still an import, with $1600 invested. Now you're $500 over a brand new pistol like above. Or, into the range of a good used Wilson, Brown, or Baer.

I've got nothing against a $400 pistol if that's what you want, but I've been around the world of 1911's long enough that I know most won't stay there. Entry level does not mean cheap, and as with most anything else, you get what you pay for. The truly smart folks will enter the market as close to their end desire allows them.

Guess I'm not truly smart but old RIA was "truck gun" and that's what this one will be..only better shooting. In 1968 when I bought my first 1911, it was a Gold Cup...most expensive commercial 1911 you could buy at the time. Only problem was it wouldn't hold up to lot of hardball shooting. Got a 1943 vintage US&S for $40 and 40 years later it's still a good shooter..better than me...so was the old RIA. Don't think I want to spend $1000 for a truck CW.

That's one of the reasons the RIA Tactical is such a good deal...good customer service, and a 1911 that already has most of the 'goodies': ambi-safety, beavertail grip safety, bobbed hammer, Novak-style low profile sights, FLGR, etc. I believe you can still find them NIB for under $500. I can't remember if they come with a FO front sight or not.

Really, the ONLY reason I bought the Ruger SR9 rather than a RIA Tactical (right around the same price point) is that I can afford to shoot 9mm often. At this point, .45ACP is too bloody expensive to shoot. Pain in the neck finding components for reloading, too...particularly, decent brass. Meanwhile, I can get 100 rounds of cheapie 9mm WWB for practice under $20.

+1 on the Rock Island Tactical. I got one just for the sake of getting a 1911. It shoots great, coming up on 1k rounds thru it so far in 4 months and other than an issue with failing to feed last round with one particular mag I got for it, it has never given me a problem. Got it for $480 out the door. Am very pleased with it so far. This is a range/practice gun only btw.

My personal experience with my first 1911 purchase (SA GI Lightweight Champion) has not been positive. Their customer service was very friendly and professional when I sent it back with feeding and FTE problems. Now it has a new feeding problem. Two friends bought SA GI models at about the same time, one just like mine and the other a 5" model. The other LW Champ has run pretty well. The 5" model won't feed anything but hardball, has had some jamming problems, occasional extracting problems, and the rear sight fell off. As I mentioned earlier, their customer service department is very responsive, and I'm sure if my friend sends his in, they will address the problems promptly.

If you mean "entry level" as in you are going to add some things on, do some research. Mil-spec models have different milling in the slides for their sights than do some of the newer-style pistols. So if you want to put Novaks or some such on later, you would have to have the slide milled to do it.

Smith & Wesson is the best buy. You can get a basic 1911 for about $700 with the rebate they're offering right now. It's a sweet gun, carbon steel, conceals well (you don't even know you're wearing it after a while).